HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEM

Tannenbaum defines HRIS as a technology-based system used to

acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute
pertinent information regarding an organizations human resources.
Kovach defined HRIS as a systematic procedure for collecting, storing,
maintaining, retrieving, and validating data needed by organization about
its human resources, personnel activities, and organization unit
characteristics. Furthermore, HRIS shape an integration between
human resource management (HRM) and Information Technology.
It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular basic HR activities and
processes with the information technology field. As is the case with any
complex organizational information system, an HRIS is not limited to the
computer hardware and software applications that comprise the technical
part of the system it also includes the people, policies, procedures, and
data required to manage the HR function (Hendrickson, 2003).

The function of Human Resources departments is generally administrative and common
to all organizations. Organizations may have formalized selection, evaluation, and
payroll processes. Efficient and effective management of "Human Capital"
progressed to an increasingly imperative and complex process. The HR function
consists of tracking existing employee data which traditionally includes personal
histories, skills, capabilities, accomplishments and salary. To reduce the manual
workload of these administrative activities, organizations began to electronically
automate many of these processes by introducing specialized Human Resource
Management Systems. HR executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to
develop and maintain an integrated HRMS. Before the clientserver architecture evolved
in the late 1980s, many HR automation processes were relegated to mainframe computers
that could handle large amounts of data transactions. In consequence of the high capital
investment necessary to buy or program proprietary software, these internally-developed
HRMS were limited to organizations that possessed a large amount of capital. The advent
of clientserver, Application Service Provider, and Software as a Service SaaS or Human
Resource Management Systems enabled increasingly higher administrative control of
such systems. Currently
INPUT
DATA
MAINTENENCE
OUTPUT
INPUT
The input
function enters
personal
information
into the HRIS
DATA
MAINTENENCE
The
maintenance
function
updates and
adds new data
to the database
after data have
been entered
into the
information
system.
OUTPUT
The HRIS then
process the
output, make
the necessary
calculations
and then
format the
presentation in
a way that
could be
understood.
HRIS
MANAGERS
HR
PROFESSIONALS
EMPLOYEES
Thus, for the HR professional there is an increasing reliance on the HRIS
to fulfil even the most elementary job tasks. As human capital plays a
larger role in competitive advantage, functional managers expect the
HRIS to provide functionality to meet the units goals and objectives.
Moreover, managers rely on the HRISs capabilities to provide superior
data collection and analysis, especially for performance appraisal and
performance management. Additionally, it also includes skill testing,
assessment and development, rsum processing, recruitment and
retention, team and project management, and management
development. Finally, the individual employees become end users of
many HRIS applications. The increased complexity of employee benefit
options and the corresponding need to monitor and modify category
selections more frequently has increased the awareness of HRIS
functionality among employees. Web-based access and self-service
options have simplified the modification process and enhanced the
usability of many benefit options and administration alternative for most
employees.
Integrating the technologies of HR
Increased Efficiency
Increased Effectiveness
The developments in Information Technology have
dramatically affected traditional HR functions
with nearly every HR function (example,
compensation, staffing, and training) experiencing
some sort of reengineering of its processes.
However, this process of change has created
significant challenges for HR professionals
resulting in the transformation of traditional
processes into on-line processes.
Rapid computing technology has allowed more
transactions to occur with fewer fixed resources.
Typical examples are payroll, flexible benefits
administration, and health benefits processing.
Though technologies of early mainframes
provided significant efficiencies in these areas, the
difference is that the record processing efficiencies
that were once only available to large firms are now
readily available to any organization size

Most often, as with processes, computer technology is designed to
improve effectiveness either by in terms of the accuracy of information
or by using the technology to simplify the process. This is especially the
case where large data sets require reconciliation. However, onerous
manual reconciliation processes may be executed faster, but also with
near perfect accuracy using automated systems. For instance, pension
and profit sharing applications, benefits administration, and employee
activities are just to mention but a few. Using computer technology in
these processes ensures accurate results and offer substantial
simplification and timeliness over manual processing. Consequently,
the vast majority of HR functions have had some degree of automation
applied in order to gain both efficiency and effectiveness.

HRIS is an effective and efficient catalyst for
integrating human resource management and
Information Technology. This was common with all
the various definitions of HRIS. HRIS as a system
support HR functional applications such as employee
selection and placement, payroll, pension and benefits
management, intake and training projections just to
mention but a few.

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